Tiscali UK are now offering 'free line rental', with their broadband, where they have local loop unbundling (LLU). There are 2 price bands. GBP15/month for a 2Mb/s, unlimited download, connection with free weekend calls or GBP20/month for up to 8Mb/s, unlimited, connection with all geo. UK calls included. They did have an GBP18/month option too but they seem to have dropped that one.Tiscali UK. Information, entertainment, broadband, email and internet access.
So, with LLU you can offer something similar to that of cable.
VirginMedia cable charge GBP18/month for a 2Mb/s connection with no phone line (though they do offers - sometimes at GBP10/month for the same thing).Virgin Media - digital TV, broadband, phone and mobile
As I see it, he only reason we have had real success with LLU, in the UK, is because BT was forced to split, by the regulator, and thus create OpenReach. This was because, like Telstra in Australia, they were, stifling competition. With OpenReach that all changed and things run smoother now. I reckon if the Australian regulator did the same with Telstra then Australians would reap similar benefits.

There IS 48volt on the wire (at least here in Belgium), but there is no dialtone when you connect a telephone to it.

The thing is, the raw copper pair is more expensive (11.8 euro's) than requesting a cheap phone line (to be called on, not to place calls from) from the national telco (Belgacom). They only charge 7 euro's for that.

It seems to be quite comparable all around the world. The Dutch situation is similar: if you don't want a phone hookup, you have to pay a fee for the bare line, which is comparable to the fee for a basic phone line.

Some providers (not all) are waving that fee, basically offering that as an extra discount (the fee for the line is still paid by the provider). Examples of these are the KPN and its daughters (only offering this as "internetplusbellen" - you need to get a castrated VOIP-account through them as well) and XS4ALL (offering this as "XS4ALL only").

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but something useful to UK VoIP users who would rather not be paying for the POTS line - Primus have slashed their cheapest line rental offering to £5.99/month - it's called Line Rental Saver and only available through Broadband Choices.